Post-quantum migration
Replace it, one phase at a time.
Once an assessment shows what is exposed, we help you replace it: hybrid first, the right replacement for each asset, a way back at every phase, and a signed record of the plan.
How a migration runs
Five rules the plan follows.
- 01
Move what belongs together, together
Keys that sign and verify, or encrypt and decrypt, for each other have to change at the same time. The plan groups them and orders the groups so the least-depended-on move first.
- 02
The right replacement for each asset
A NIST post-quantum standard for public-key cryptography, a stronger classical algorithm where that is the real fix (a broken hash, a short symmetric key), and a question back to you where the scan cannot tell how a key is used.
- 03
Hybrid first, with a way back
Public-key migrations go through three phases: accept the new algorithm, prefer it, then use only it. Each configuration phase can be rolled back by re-enabling the old one. A step that cannot be undone, such as an HSM key ceremony, gets its own backout plan before its window.
- 04
Maintenance windows named up front
Most changes are configuration. HSM key ceremonies and firmware updates cannot be done hands-off, and the plan marks every asset that needs a window.
- 05
Nothing marked done until it is
The plan lists phases as planned. An asset counts as migrated only when it has actually reached post-quantum only, and progress is tracked against the deadlines that apply to you.
The loop, run for real
Apply, check, then keep it or roll it back.
On 5 lab servers we run, not a client’s, we made 7 changes to TLS: 6 were kept and 1 rolled back on its own when a check failed. On api-ecdsa, going straight to post-quantum only (fix 02) locked out an older client, so it was undone; offering hybrid first while keeping the classic options (fix 03) passed every check and was kept. That is rule 03 above, measured.
Open a fix to see its signed steps, check the record in your browser, then change one value and watch the check fail. Each record is a hash-linked chain sealed with our Ed25519 key, checked by the same free checker as on the Counterfoil page.
Our lab, not a customer: test servers we run, set up with problems real servers often have. Every number was measured from real handshakes by test clients inside the lab network, on the date of the snapshot. The fix records are signed with our key, and the checker shows each one is unaltered and in order. They record what our tools reported. They do not prove a fix suits every client, or that nothing else changed on the host.
The standards it targets
What the plan is measured against.
FIPS 203, 204, 205
The NIST post-quantum standards (ML-KEM, ML-DSA, SLH-DSA), finalized in August 2024.
CNSA 2.0
The NSA algorithm suite for US national security systems, with its own transition timeline.
US Executive Order 14412
Post-quantum key establishment: 31 December 2030; Post-quantum digital signatures: 31 December 2031. US federal agencies, for high value assets and high impact systems. It also directs a proposed rule requiring covered federal contractors to comply with NIST post-quantum standards by 31 December 2030.
EU Coordinated Implementation Roadmap
National transition plans and first pilots: 31 December 2026; High-risk use cases transitioned: 31 December 2030; Medium-risk use cases transitioned: 31 December 2035. A recommendation to EU Member States, not a law that binds a firm directly. It cites DORA and NIS2 as rules that already require state-of-the-art cryptography.
NIST IR 8547, draft
Classical key establishment deprecated: 31 December 2030; Classical public-key algorithms disallowed: After 2035. US guidance, still a draft. US agencies must align their plans with it.
Where we stand
Built and tested. The first migrations are ahead.
The planner and the tracker are built and tested, and the plan is sealed into the assessment’s evidence file. We have not yet carried out a production migration for a client; the lab loop above is ours, and the first engagements will be the proof. We will publish what we can with the client’s consent.